Remembering Golub Furniture and a Vanished New Bedford Neighborhood

The area known as the "Hicks-Logan" section of New Bedford's near North End was marred and isolated by the construction of Interstate 195 and later Route 18.

The Hicks-Logan Area Before the Highways

Before highway construction, the demolition of Weld Square, and urban renewal, vibrant neighborhoods once existed. Many former homes and businesses are now just a memory in the name of progress.

Golub Furniture at 22 Logan Street in New Bedford, just north of the Wamsutta Mills, escaped the wrecking ball. Many New Bedford-area families bought home furnishings and perhaps even their first-ever television set from the Golub family.

While exact dates and specific information are hard to locate, it appears that Golub Furniture also operated under the name Sterling Furniture Company of New Bedford, Massachusetts.

A Family Business Through War and Change

Golub Furniture was family-owned and operated for many years by Russian immigrants Helen and Joseph Golub of Fall River.

Their son, Harry I. Golub, a graduate of Durfee High School, earned a degree from Bryant College (now Bryant University) in Rhode Island and worked in the family business until enlisting in the U.S. Navy after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

Following the war and the death of their father, Harry and his brother Albert took over the family business and opened two new locations.

Harry and his family moved to Fairhaven, and in 1958 to New Bedford, where they lived for 20 years before relocating to Coos Bay, Oregon. It was there, according to an obituary on theworldlink.com, that he lived until his death from cancer on February 26, 2011.

Defying Blue Laws and the Passage of Time

The Golub brothers, like many other business owners, defied Massachusetts' so-called "blue laws" in 1976 by refusing to keep their business closed on Sundays. Those laws eventually were repealed.

READ MORE: When Shopping on Sunday in Massachusetts Was Illegal

During service in the Navy during World War II, Harry Golub wrote letters to the Bryant College Service Club, which are available on the school's website.